January 31, 2001

Well, clearly there have been some changes made on the site recently. Teaching JavaScript as often as I do, I felt I should actually use some scripts on my own site. I found the cool mouse-over menu code and thought it would work well on the site. That, of course, necessitated a complete re-design. No, we don't do things small 'round these parts.
Oh, and I added another element to the page: JavaScript for a random quote generator. I filled it with Simpsons quotes, of course. What, you were expecting something more profound?
We're busily preparing for some company next week. Kathy, Deanna, Debi, Sherrice, and others are joining us for Katie's big first birthday celebration! There will actually be quite a few more people, but these are the lucky few that actually get to clean our house, cook, and clean up. They don't know it yet, though... so shhhhh... thanks.
A couple weeks ago Vic, my dad, and I worked on a project in our living room-dining room area. We painted two shades of taupe and put up a chair rail. It really does make a big difference, at least to us. We'd been planning to do something to that big plain room since we moved in over three years ago, and feel good that we finally got it done.
We also painted the half-bath downstairs, which took all of 45 minutes. Vic and I are getting so good at this painting thing, each room we do goes faster and turns out nicer. By the time we reach expert status, we'll have nothing left to paint. Time to start over?
Probably the biggest news, though, is that Katie's walking! She started taking a step here and there a few weeks ago, but finally caught on to what she was doing last week, and is now getting more brave. If there aren't any toys in the way, she'll walk across the room! We're very proud, as is she.
I still have Christmas pictures to get developed, and yes, they'll be really old by the time I put them on the site. We'll post some birthday party shots for those of you who won't be able to make it, so watch for those in the next few weeks. And Katie's going in for her 12-month portraits next week, so I plan to scan proofs and post them too. Ooooh, now you can hardly wait, huh?

January 10, 2001

I scanned in a bunch of photos that can be found on a new page on our site: Friends. Links to some pages that have been here a while can be found there too.
The Voss Family page has new photos. These are the super-duper they-really-do-look-like-that photos that are so hard to get with teenagers.
Daryl & Sally finally have a page. Not much on it, but it's there.
Last weekend I got quite a treat: Vic took Katie to Seattle for the weekend to give me a few days of solitude. I enjoyed every minute! Ed, Stefan and I went out to Pasta Veloce Saturday night, and tried to go to a movie at the new Fox Tower but just about everything was sold out. Sure, we could've seen "Dude, Where's My Car?" but gee, we just didn't. Otherwise the weekend consisted of lots of quiet time at home, watching rented DVDs and cuddling with Scout. It was just what I needed after the busy holidays.
I've just started reading two big fat books: Maurice, by E.M. Forster, and Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire. The last book I read was an autobiography of Armistead Maupin, which was interesting but quite short, so I don't consider getting through it a very big accomplishment on my part.
Congrats to my friend Annalee and her husband Mark, who had a baby girl last weekend. I can't wait to meet her! Watch for pictures here as soon as they're willing to part with some.
As Taylor Lassen would say, "And we're not going to say any more words. Good-bye."

January 5, 2001

Happy New Year!
Site's re-designed, as you can tell. If it's really difficult to read, please let me know; otherwise I don't want to hear anything but NICE comments.
Christmas in Colorado was white-ish. We had so much fun, I can't even begin to regale you all with the details. Santa Kathy made sure Katie's first Christmas was memorable and fun. We discovered the game Cranium (thanks, Dad and Dotti)--here's a hint: don't let Kathy play on your team. She always loses. It must be one of those scientific phenomena, because she should be really good at it.
My plan is to scan the Christmas card photos we received and post them on the site, so watch this space for your picture! Then you can be just like Deanna, Martin, Lori, and Ed and have your own coveted pages on manullang.com! If that ain't a brush with greatness...
I also want to apologize to all of you who are waiting for me to reply to your recent e-mails. I haven't been on the computer much lately, but I promise I'll get to you soon.

December 13, 2000

New pictures on the site! We've got:

Katie's visit to Santa and her Christmas portraits on the Katie at 10 months page

A new picture of Julianne and Jacob

A shot from Ed's wild and scary visit to Goiterland

The snapshots Lori sent from the infamous San Francisco trip with Kathy. Martin, take note: Lori's page now has more pictures than yours does!

I also updated the Family News page for the benefit of new visitors to our site.

Went to Seattle last weekend for a visit with Vic's Auntie Sormin and Auntie Flora, and Wellington's retirement party. Daryl & Sally flew there for the day. Half of us were fighting colds, but as always, we had a good time, though the weekend went by quickly.

Vic is not happy about Alex Rodriguez leaving the Mariners. It'd be best not to bring it up, OK?

I'm working on getting Christmas cards in the mail, doing some holiday baking, and packing for our trip to Colorado. Looking forward to meeting up with several friends over the next few days. Also have some work projects going that I hope to complete before we leave. I should get busy!

I probably won't update the site again until after Christmas, so Merry Christmas to all of you and your families! Thanks for checking in and come back soon!

November 30, 2000

We got some new snapshots of Katie today so I thought I'd add them to the site. We also have a new adorable photo of Alec & Abby!

This week we got cable Internet access. It's unbelievably fast, and so far we're really pleased with the difference over a dial-up connection. I'll try to be careful about adding a lot of slow-load images on the site.

Done with our Christmas shopping, nyah nyah nyah! Last night I even put up some of our decorations outside, with a minimum of cursing. We're skipping the "real" tree this year in favor of our small fake tabletop one, for a couple reasons: KATIE ('nuff said), and we're going to be gone over Christmas. It's not the same without that fir aroma in the house, though.

Speaking of stuff that's missing, since I did 95 percent of my Christmas shopping online, I've spent little time in the stores lately. I can't stand the traffic, parking, and crowds, so this is a good thing. But tonight as I ran into Fred Meyer for groceries and heard Christmas carols being played overhead I realized how much I miss that part of Christmas shopping. Lame, ain't it? Guess I'll have to make up for it here at home.

My favorite Christmas CDs this year? Michael W. Smith Christmastime, The Carpenters Christmas Collection, Amy Grant Home for Christmas, anything by Bing Crosby and Andy Williams, Bebe & Cece Winans First Christmas, Michael W. Smith et. al. Emmanuel.

If it seems like I've got sorta corny taste in Christmas music this year, I'd like to see YOUR list!

Events in December: Wellington's birthday and retirement party on the 10th, Elissa's birthday on the 14th, Rachel's birthday on the 24th, Chris' birthday on the 26th, Len's birthday on the 27th. And how could I forget that the new Disney movie opens December 15??? I'll bet my friend Ed can hardly wait for that.

November 21, 2000

I've decided I'm not going to apologize about keeping the site updated anymore. It's just easier that way. There are new pictures of Katie on our site. We skipped right past the 8-month pictures (didn't take any!) but made up for it on the 9-month pages. Watch for more snapshots to be added soon.

This week's light, but most of this month I've been working a lot. With some new classes Kinetic's adding to their line-up, I hope to be working even more in the new year, which I look forward to. I enjoy being in the classroom again, especially teaching the classes I love. I never got the opportunity to "specialize" at Catapult like I can as a contractor.

Don't even get me started on the election stuff going on right now...

We're hosting Thanksgiving dinner for Mom and Len this year. Plans are finalized for spending Christmas with the Voss Crime Family in Colorado. Hooray! Crossing our fingers for a white Christmas...

Kathy and Lori are going to San Francisco without me next week. This means, of course, that they're getting coal in their stockings, but they just don't care.

Nothing else to report. Almost done with Christmas shopping and then maybe I'll get going on another painting project. Then again, I probably won't. Happy Thanksgiving to all! And in case I forget later, Happy Ramadan, too!

October 28, 2000

I apologize for my delinquency in keeping this page updated. Really, though, if I had super-exciting things to share you can bet that I would! Here's what's been happening with us in the past 27 days.

I've been working a lot. I taught a web design workshop for an educational media conference. Kinetic's keeping my schedule full with JavaScript, HTML, and FrontPage classes, and Lake Oswego's classes are filling up nicely. I've got some other projects going as well, and that's the biggest reason I haven't worked on the site.

Katie news:

Her new fun is chasing Scout. When Scout lets her catch up, they roll around together in Scout's heap of blankets.

Her top front teeth finally cut through, and with her four teeth on the bottom, she's looking much less gummy.

She's learning to express herself a bit more--frustration, especially--but she's still generally the happiest baby ever, which Mommy thanks God for EVERY DAY!

Lately she's been watching her Baby Einstein videos a bunch; as soon as she hears the first note or two she races to park herself in front of the TV. She sits mesmerized except during one part on Baby Bach when--every time--she kicks her feet and gets noisy. We're thinking it's like those Japanese cartoons that gave kids seizures, but it's so entertaining we love to watch her. And yes, we fully expect Child Protection Services to come knocking down our door any day now.

We made a visit to Walla Walla a few weeks ago. Hung out with Mom and Len and Grandma a bit, but Lonnie and Sherrice just moved into a wonderful house so we bunked with them for the weekend. We visited with Kevin & Lisa Krueger and their beagle Brandy, which was Scout's favorite part of the trip! Katie and I spent some time with JoAnn Wiggins just before we left town.

Speaking of Lonnie and Sherrice, Baby Croft will be joining them next June! We're so thrilled! Poor Sherrice has to deal with lots of unsolicited advice from all of us wise, experienced mothers now.

Vic's two weeks' vacation ends tomorrow. He didn't do too much exciting stuff--he was at home with Katie about half the time while I was working. We did get one big project finished--we painted our bedroom and bathroom. The walls are dark blue now, and wow!, what a difference it makes! We're really happy with it. Next project: something downstairs (oooooooh!).

Ed and I went to Armistead Maupin's book reading and signing last week. The man is incredible; I am in such awe of him. If you're looking for some fun reading, try the Tales of the City series. His new book, The Night Listener, is one of the most captivating books I've ever read.

Debi had her open-head surgery two weeks ago and recovery is going well. For Halloween, she's going to be FrankenDebi--just needs to glue some bolts to her neck and she's good to go.

I'm sorry to say there's not much new stuff on the site. Lori sent a picture I put on the Katie at 7 months page. I'm still waiting for Las Vegas pics from Kathy. And Martin promises more of his special variety of really-I'm-not-a-celebrity-stalker photos too.

Someday I will see my friend Lisa Ross.

Celebrations in November: Barb Matlock's birthday on the 8th and Wellington's retirement party on the 12th.

Getting ready to do your Christmas shopping? Check out my Internet shopping page for suggestions on saving money. I should also recommend creating a Wish List on Amazon, especially if we're going to be putting a gift under the tree for you this year (that does NOT mean you, Martin).

Gotta run.

October 1, 2000

Sheesh. This is the first weekend since June that we haven't been going somewhere or had someone visiting us. Now, for all of you who visited us this summer, we loved having you here--don't get the wrong idea! We're just grateful for the quiet time spent inside our own house.

September was busy, which is why I haven't updated the site all month. We were in Seattle for Labor Day weekend, and then Kathy was here for ten days. We had a lot of fun doing a lot of nothing, but enjoyed the times we cleaned ourselves up and actually left the house too. Got to see "Auntie" Lori a couple times, and the infamous Martin of the message board.

The day after Kathy left we drove to Seattle, dropped Katie at Grandpa & Grandma's, and flew to Las Vegas. We met Kathy and her family there (you might think we'd had enough of each other, but NOOOO!) and spent four days avoiding the outdoors, as it was over 100°. Pictures will be posted when Kathy gets them developed and sends me copies. Vic and I video-taped the exciting parts: Kathy pretending she didn't know the camera was on her, Kathy dancing in front of Paris, Kathy eating my cheesecake, Kathy using profanity, Kathy embarrassing her husband and children...

Anyway, the hotels that have come up since we were last there in early 1999 were incredible! Our favorite was the Venetian, where we took a gondola ride on a canal... down the middle of a shopping mall. OK, so maybe it wasn't completely authentic. We also enjoyed Paris, the new Aladdin, and Mandalay Bay. Spent WAY too much time at the Krispy Kreme in our hotel (Excalibur), but we did celebrate my birthday at The Cheesecake Factory and Spago.

Stephen had his picture taken as The Terminator at one of those booths where they put your face into another picture. Sean got to put his hands on the butt of a lion cub and have his picture taken at the Lion Habitat at MGM Grand. Hopefully Kathy will scan and send the photos so I can proudly display them on Sean and Stephen's page.

The day we got back home, Deanna came to visit for a long weekend of sitting around. Since we were all fighting colds there was barely energy for shopping, although we did do some. Also watched a great movie: The Big Tease, starring Craig Ferguson as a Scottish hairdresser who's invited to a Hair-Off in Los Angeles. Antics abound, as you can imagine. We also watched--Ed, don't read this part--the new Little Mermaid movie. Anyway, I loved having Deanna here because she's one of those friends who's just fun to be with, even when we're all sickies and grouchy.

I've started contract training at Kinetic Computer Solutions. I taught JavaScript last week, and have some more classes scheduled in October. It's fun being back in the classroom for full-day classes, although I still love what I'm doing for the Lake Oswego School District. I'm also taking on some consulting projects here and there; just enough to keep me busy. Our wonderful neighbor Cheri is caring for Katie when I have daytime work.

I'll be working a lot in October, but otherwise we don't have too many plans. With Vic on vacation for a couple weeks we'll probably try to get out of town for a few days, but right now we don't even want to think about leaving the house.

Happy Birthday to Ted (10/1), Jenna (10/2), Judi (10/3), Brianna (10/10), Jim and Erin (10/13), Ron (10/19), Alex (10/24), and Uncle Paul (10/31). Happy Anniversary to Ted and Jocelyn (10/8)!

New stuff on the site: pretty much nothing. Note our new e-mail addresses on our home page. Hopefully I'll be able to add some new pictures soon.

August 31, 2000

We had a great time in Medford last weekend! We saw lots of family at my cousin's wedding--Katie especially liked Uncle Mel, who did NOT try to make her drink beer like he did to me when I was her age! We also had a wonderful visit with Katie's "Grandpa and Grandma" Don & Sharon Skundrick on Sunday. Don & Donna Marshall were gracious enough to accommodate a lot of visitors for the weekend--THANK YOU!

Well, the big news is still that Katie's crawling. She pulled herself up at Donna's last weekend, though it was on a pretty low footstool. She's starting to get much more adventurous and we're starting to get much more aware of just how many dangerous things we have in reaching distance around our house!

Her other new thing is smiling and laughing with her mouth closed. This comes from hating solid food very much. To get her to open her mouth to eat strained vegetables, we do goofy things to make her laugh and then shove the food in. She's no dummy... now she smiles and giggles, but with her mouth tightly closed.
Admittedly, acquiring a taste for solid food isn't easy with Daddy on the other side of the spoon saying, "Katie, squash is yummy, that's why Daddy eats it twice a year!"
Kathy will be here September 5-15!

New things on the site: Katie's 6-month portraits, snapshots from 5 months, the new car, and the day we spent at the Macketts' house last month.

C'mon, there must be more people out there who have had some exciting moments of near-greatness. Share them in the message board, PLEASE!

August 25, 2000

Katie started crawling last week! We were expecting to have another month or two to get prepared, but she's a strong baby! We've spent the past several days rearranging everything in the house. She's working on trying to pull herself up now, and we're guessing it won't be long until we have something else to be proud of!

Debi got to witness the first crawl when she was here last weekend. We had a great time on her visit! She helped me choose more accessories for the guest room on one of our many shopping ventures. We saw some movies and worked hard to stick to our diets. Oh, and about her open-head surgery: she finally found out what's wrong with her--she's missing a bone in her face. Now, it may sound like she's a freak but she's really not. Deanna might suggest otherwise though. (Deanna, wouldn't a missing face bone make a person a slack-jawed yokel?)

Nothing else to write about. We're headed to Medford this weekend and will hopefully have some pictures to share upon our return.

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